ORIGlNAL ARTICLES
THE EFFECTS OF SEAT BELT LEGISLATION ON ROAD TRAFFIC INJURIES
G. W. T R I N C AXD A ~ R. J. D o o L i : y 3 Road Trauma Committee, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Melbourne The compulsory wearing of seat belts, first introduced in the world in Victoria in 1970, has effectively reduced the number of deaths and injuries b y approximately one-third for car occupants involved in motor vehicle crashes. Initially, the legislation did not apply t o children under the age of eight years, b u t i n 1975 a f u r t h e r law was introduced banning children f r o m the f r o n t seat of any vehicle unless properly harnessed. Seat belts offer the best protection for f r o n t seat drivers and passengers involved in frontal impacts, but offer less protection t o the recipient of a side impact. Ten per cent of car. occupants admitted to hospital after a frontal impact shbw injuries, mostly minor, directly attributable t o the wearing of seat belts.
THISpaper deals mainly with experience of the efficacy of seat belt restraint usage in motor vehicle crashes in Victoria. Brief accounts of the situation in other States and countries which have introduced similar laws of mandatory seat belt wearing will also be TABLE I Year
Persons killed
Vic. 1360 196j
1970 1374 1975
760 929 1,061 806
* Based
807
Rest of Aust. 1,845 2,235
2,737 2,766 2,801
Deaths/io,ooo Vehicles Vic. 9.0 8.9 8.1 5'0
5.3'
Rest of Anst. 9'3 8.3 7.9 6.3 6.1.
Deaths/roo,ooo Population Vir.
Rest of Auct.
26.6
24'9
29'3
27'1
30.8
30'2
22'1
28'4
24.5.
27.I*
on preliminary estimates of vehicles and population for
1975.
given as reported at the Sixth International Conference o f the International Association of Accident and Traffic Medicine held in Melbourne in January, 1977. In 1970 the Victorian road toll reached a peak of 1,061 deaths and 23,821 reported injuries. Since that year both fatalities and Chairman. Deputy Chairman. Reprints: M r G. W. Trinca, Melbourne, Vic. 3000.
12
Collins Street,
injuries have been kept significantly below these peaks, despite an estimated increase of 7% in population and 31% in registered motor vehicles. Comparison of the fatality and injury rates shows that whilst in the period I@O1970, the Victorian road toll was slightly worse than that in the rest of Australia, by 1975 Victoria stood clearly apart from the rest (Tables I and 2 ) . TABLE 2 Analysis of Re@orted Injuries, 1960-1974 Persons injured
year
1960 1965 1970 1974 ~~~
Vic.
Rest of Aust.
16,669 20,446 23,737 17,539
44,965 57,277 67,817 73,819
Injured per vehicles
10'
Vic.
Rest of Aust.
196.3
225'9
195.5
212.7 193.9 168.3
180.6 108.8
Injured per 10' population
Vic. 583.4 645'8 687.8 481'3
Rest of Anst. 606.2 696.4 747'1 758'2
~
Since 1970 the Victorian Government has introduced a number of road safety initiatives, including : ( a ) Compulsory wearing of seat belts; ( b ) Retro-fitting of seat belts on all old vehicles ; (c) A 70 mph absolute speed limit, subsequently lowered to 60 mph, now 100 km/h (1974) ; AUST. N.Z. J. SURG., VOL. 47-"o.
2,
APRIL,1977
SEAT BELTS A N D T R A F F I C I N J U R I E S
T R IN C A A N D DOOLEY
( d ) Blood alcohol analysis of injured adult
road accident victims admitted to hospitals (1974) ; random breath tests (1976) ; ( e ) Progressive implementation of improved traffic management ; ( f ) Progressive adoption of some 2 0 safety features in new vehicles ; ( 9 ) Intensified enforcement of the above measures. In addition, public interest in road safety has been heightened by the media, the cooperation of which has facilitated extensive promotion of road safety practices. The extent to which specific safety measures have contributed to Victoria's improved safety record over the past five years is difficult to determine, but some idea can be obtained by separating the road toll into categories which are more likely to be affected by specific measures. The trends for vehicle occupant deaths are shown in Figure I . There has been a 37.4% reduction from the trend line for vehicle occupant deaths for the year ending 1974 as compared with 1970, and Figure 2 shows a similar 40.6% reduction for vehicle occupant injuries compared with the I970 peak. For other road users (pedestrians, motor I
YEAR
0 60
62
64
66
68
70
72
74
1.i(.ui
THE EFFECTS OF SEAT BELT LEGISLATION ON ROAD TRAFFIC INJURIES
G. W. T R I N C AXD A ~ R. J. D o o L i : y 3 Road Trauma Committee, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Melbourne The compulsory wearing of seat belts, first introduced in the world in Victoria in 1970, has effectively reduced the number of deaths and injuries b y approximately one-third for car occupants involved in motor vehicle crashes. Initially, the legislation did not apply t o children under the age of eight years, b u t i n 1975 a f u r t h e r law was introduced banning children f r o m the f r o n t seat of any vehicle unless properly harnessed. Seat belts offer the best protection for f r o n t seat drivers and passengers involved in frontal impacts, but offer less protection t o the recipient of a side impact. Ten per cent of car. occupants admitted to hospital after a frontal impact shbw injuries, mostly minor, directly attributable t o the wearing of seat belts.
THISpaper deals mainly with experience of the efficacy of seat belt restraint usage in motor vehicle crashes in Victoria. Brief accounts of the situation in other States and countries which have introduced similar laws of mandatory seat belt wearing will also be TABLE I Year
Persons killed
Vic. 1360 196j
1970 1374 1975
760 929 1,061 806
* Based
807
Rest of Aust. 1,845 2,235
2,737 2,766 2,801
Deaths/io,ooo Vehicles Vic. 9.0 8.9 8.1 5'0
5.3'
Rest of Anst. 9'3 8.3 7.9 6.3 6.1.
Deaths/roo,ooo Population Vir.
Rest of Auct.
26.6
24'9
29'3
27'1
30.8
30'2
22'1
28'4
24.5.
27.I*
on preliminary estimates of vehicles and population for
1975.
given as reported at the Sixth International Conference o f the International Association of Accident and Traffic Medicine held in Melbourne in January, 1977. In 1970 the Victorian road toll reached a peak of 1,061 deaths and 23,821 reported injuries. Since that year both fatalities and Chairman. Deputy Chairman. Reprints: M r G. W. Trinca, Melbourne, Vic. 3000.
12
Collins Street,
injuries have been kept significantly below these peaks, despite an estimated increase of 7% in population and 31% in registered motor vehicles. Comparison of the fatality and injury rates shows that whilst in the period I@O1970, the Victorian road toll was slightly worse than that in the rest of Australia, by 1975 Victoria stood clearly apart from the rest (Tables I and 2 ) . TABLE 2 Analysis of Re@orted Injuries, 1960-1974 Persons injured
year
1960 1965 1970 1974 ~~~
Vic.
Rest of Aust.
16,669 20,446 23,737 17,539
44,965 57,277 67,817 73,819
Injured per vehicles
10'
Vic.
Rest of Aust.
196.3
225'9
195.5
212.7 193.9 168.3
180.6 108.8
Injured per 10' population
Vic. 583.4 645'8 687.8 481'3
Rest of Anst. 606.2 696.4 747'1 758'2
~
Since 1970 the Victorian Government has introduced a number of road safety initiatives, including : ( a ) Compulsory wearing of seat belts; ( b ) Retro-fitting of seat belts on all old vehicles ; (c) A 70 mph absolute speed limit, subsequently lowered to 60 mph, now 100 km/h (1974) ; AUST. N.Z. J. SURG., VOL. 47-"o.
2,
APRIL,1977
SEAT BELTS A N D T R A F F I C I N J U R I E S
T R IN C A A N D DOOLEY
( d ) Blood alcohol analysis of injured adult
road accident victims admitted to hospitals (1974) ; random breath tests (1976) ; ( e ) Progressive implementation of improved traffic management ; ( f ) Progressive adoption of some 2 0 safety features in new vehicles ; ( 9 ) Intensified enforcement of the above measures. In addition, public interest in road safety has been heightened by the media, the cooperation of which has facilitated extensive promotion of road safety practices. The extent to which specific safety measures have contributed to Victoria's improved safety record over the past five years is difficult to determine, but some idea can be obtained by separating the road toll into categories which are more likely to be affected by specific measures. The trends for vehicle occupant deaths are shown in Figure I . There has been a 37.4% reduction from the trend line for vehicle occupant deaths for the year ending 1974 as compared with 1970, and Figure 2 shows a similar 40.6% reduction for vehicle occupant injuries compared with the I970 peak. For other road users (pedestrians, motor I
YEAR
0 60
62
64
66
68
70
72
74
1.i(.ui
